Do you run your life, or does it run you?

June 30th, 2008          Email This Post       

Often, we fall into a pattern of reacting to emails, phone calls, and mail and have no time for anything else. That’s fine if they are opportunities to learn, grow, and live life. However, they are overwhelmingly problems we have to handle.
This makes us feel victimized – we are at the mercy of our environment. All the pressure usually causes lots of stress and we can’t pursue what we think is important or what we want to do. For some life events – such as a new baby, this may not be a cause for alarm, however it is very easy to settle into this mindset. Then, the very thought of having time for the important or what we want is absurd to consider. In that mindset, you may even feel it is irresponsible to put your time into something that only has long term payoffs.

Being reactive in the morning can take over your whole day. Once you start checking phone calls and emails, things will just keep jumping out at you to handle. You will end up at the end of another day, exhausted, upset that you didn’t accomplish much of value, and ask “where has the day gone?” If you try to stop reacting to things so you can sit down to long term things, inevitably more urgent things will come up.

Instead, at the beginning of each day review (or write!) your long term goals & projects and put some good time into them – BEFORE you check your email or messages. At first, you may feel uncomfortable not checking your email right away, expecting things to blow up. If you implemented the auto responders mentioned in Limiting Distractions, 101 you will already know about the truly urgent things – meaning everything else can wait! Alternatively, if you already try to “get ahead” by starting before normal working hours, then start on the really important work early – the ones with long term gains. Don’t make the mistake of “just taking a peak at your email” – what good will it do? It can only distract you from the work you are sitting down to do.

One of the best things to invest your time in would be how to clear more time. The coming posts will help with that.

Its all too common, and easy, to get caught up in what goes on, but we can start the day off with things that will help us long term!

Similar Posts:

• Limiting Distractions, 101
• Finding More Time, Part 4: Optimizing
• Don’t re-act, pre-act!
• Finding More Time, Part 3: Eliminating Even More!
• How To Use Each Day Better
• Why Band-Aid Your Problems? Stitch Them!